Ferguson admits that Chelsea are almost out of sight

Monday 17 October 2005 20.29 EDT
First published on Monday 17 October 2005 20.29 EDT

The fighting qualities within Sir Alex Ferguson will never allow him to concede a championship before the leaves have stopped falling from the trees but the Manchester United manager was candid enough yesterday to admit that the task of catching and overhauling Chelsea might prove beyond his team. Two publicity-conscious bookmakers have already paid out on Chelsea retaining the Premiership trophy after nine straight wins, including inflicting Liverpool's heaviest defeat at Anfield since 1969.

With Arsenal having already suffered three defeats, United may be the most likely challengers but they are 10 points behind the champions and Ferguson is confronted by the possibility of a third successive season without a league title.

"It's obvious that unless Chelsea start to drop some points they are in a very strong position," he said. "It's only stating the obvious, too, that we're still in October, so it would be silly to think of them as champions already. But they're relentless at the moment. Right now we're just trying to stay within their slipstream, hoping they slip up."

Ferguson can take encouragement from the fact that his side have won all three games since the now-infamous 2-1 home defeat to Blackburn Rovers, a match that will be remembered for the throngs of supporters who turned against the manager and the mutinous chants demanding a return to 4-4-2 and the scrapping of the unpopular 4-3-2-1 system.

United's fiercely proud manager has been reluctant to discuss one of the most chastening experiences of his 19 years at Old Trafford but, in his programme notes for tonight's Champions League tie against Lille, he chastised those who had dared to dissect the team's formation. "I know you supporters were not happy but I have to say there has been an awful lot of rubbish in the media trying to blame the shortage of goals on our system of play. It doesn't make me very happy to lose on our own ground, but at least we should recognise the core of the problem and admit that our failure was simply down to very bad finishing.

"It had absolutely nothing to do with formations, tactics or an unwillingness to attack, but these criticisms were levelled at us by a number of pundits and even a few fans. We have, in fact, played the same way for years. Certainly we have not changed our style and hopefully we will continue to score and entertain."

Ferguson's argument might have been slightly more persuasive had he not, in the next sentence, proceeded to contradict himself. "One change we have made over the past year has been to play three in the centre of midfield, an adjustment we made to retain Roy Keane in the team. When Roy was at his peak and worked from box to box we needed only two in the engine room, but the day came when we could no longer ask quite so much from our captain."

Ferguson is clearly aggrieved by the scrutiny of his tactics, but his major source of irritation yesterday emanated from a weekend newspaper column penned by Denis Irwin, the retired former United and Republic of Ireland defender. "My very reliable sources in both Manchester and Dublin say there has been contact between the FAI and my old manager," wrote Irwin. "Of course he is denying it. He has to - Alex is under contract to Manchester United. But that doesn't mean he won't be manager of Ireland by the time our next competitive games come around next September."

Perplexingly, Ferguson's first reaction was to say that Irwin had told him he had not spoken to anyone in the media, so it could be discounted as "rubbish". Given that Irwin actually wrote the column himself, and that he is not a man to go in for speculation or hyperbole, it should probably be taken reasonably seriously, particularly as Ferguson has confided in the past that the Republic of Ireland job would appeal to him should he ever leave Old Trafford.

There are still no guarantees that the Glazer regime will accept being second best to Chelsea and, by Ferguson's own admission, it is becoming an increasingly likely prospect.